Criminal – Murder – First degree

Where a jury in the Superior Court convicted a defendant of murder in the first degree, the conviction should be affirmed, as (1) the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in questioning the venire about their views on scientific evidence, (2) the judge did not err by failing to instruct, consistent with Commonwealth v. Bowden, 379 Mass. 472, 485-486 (1980), that the jury could consider “the lack of police investigation [and] the lack of physical evidence” in determining whether there was a reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt, (3) the judge’s erroneous decision to permit a witness to give an opinion regarding the culpability of the defendant was insubstantial and (4) evidence of an argument between the defendant and a third party was not unduly prejudicial.